Catherine Hardwicke is set to direct the upcoming adaptation of comic series Heathen, the creation of writer and artist Natasha Alterici (with lettering by Rachel Deering). The adaptation of the female-fronted Viking saga Heathen was first announced in April last year, and the slowly turning cogs of the Hollywood machine have finally churned around to pushing the project forward.
Heathen tells the story of Aydis, a Viking warrior cast out from her village after she is caught kissing another woman. The story follows Aydis' mission to put wrongs right with regards to the treatment of women. The time in which she lives sees a life of hardships for everyone, but women in particular are subjugated in a society that diminishes their worth. Aydis lives the life of a self-proclaimed heathen, refusing to live by the rules of a world that sees no value in her, and ultimately embarks on a mission to topple Odin himself, who as the Allfather of the Viking religion and culture is the ultimate patriarch and a symbol of the oppression her gender must endure.
The news of Catherine Hardwicke’s appointment as the director of Heathen came from Deadline. Best known for helming the first Twilight movie, the director has previously been outspoken about the gender inequality existing in the film industry, and her opinions on the matter were likely part of what drew her to the project. Casting for the film is probably next on the agenda, and although nothing has yet been discussed, a notable reaction to the news of Hardwicke’s appointment was Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz making an unambiguous statement on Twitter: “HELLO I WOULD MAKE A GREAT LESBIAN VIKING.”
As well as a story of a Viking warrior, Heathen is equally important as story of a young woman coming to terms not only with her own sexuality, but also having to do so in a society and culture that doesn’t accept her. Aydis proclaims herself to be a heathen as psychological armor against those who would try to belittle her merely on account of who she is. The comic puts a gay and feminist spin on much of the tales and tropes familiar to fans of Norse mythology, with part of the story seeing her questing to rescue the Valkyrie Brynhild from a curse put on her by Odin, as well as encounters with the likes of female pirates and mermaids not as cute as Disney would have you believe.
Looking at Hardwicke’s directing credits, she seems a perfect choice to adapt Heathen, each of her previous films reflecting a facet of the comics. Her previous feature, the English-language remake of Mexican action crime movie Miss Bala, features a young woman navigating her way through a world dominated by dangerous men; her debut feature Thirteen (which she also co-wrote) was about rebellious teenagers living lives well beyond what would be expected of people their age; and the immortal Twilight features the passion of first love meeting a world of the supernatural far more dangerous than anything its young protagonist has previously encountered.
Source: Deadline